


Nit's Notebook

by nitritre



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Bittybones (Undertale), And each chapter is self-contained, Angst, Avatar!Frisk, Bisexual Disaster, Bisexual Disaster Reader, Bittybones are actually mages' familiars, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fifth Element - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, Ghost Reader, I should probably specify that not all Readers here are the same person, I'd say I made that one up but I actually checked Wikipedia for inspiration, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Just assume that Reader is a bisexual woman unless otherwise specified, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Outlines, Plot Bunnies - Freeform, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Suicide Attempt, There will be a lot of Readers here, headcanons, one more take on bitties, popatochisp's "reader is a character of their own but you borrow their eyes" school of Reader-fics, reader is not okay, the pairings happen in different chapters, vampire reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:49:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitritre/pseuds/nitritre
Summary: Notes, headcanons, outlines, and various things I thought I'd share with the community. Some I might actually write/use, others I might just leave as they are.Some chapters will be about difficult themes. Some chapters will be fluff, some angst, some comedy, etc. There will be warnings for potentially upsetting chapters.
Relationships: Muffet (Undertale)/Reader, Reader & Everyone, Reader & Original Character(s), Sans (Undertale) & Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Kudos: 13





	1. Temmie headcanons

**Author's Note:**

> While this is my notebook, it doesn't mean it can't be borrowed. Do you like something here? Do you want to use it as is or did it inspire you? Feel free to use anything here. Just give me a link so I can read your work.  
> Since this is a notebook, some things can be added in (or erased, I guess) at any time. Chapters aren't necessarily static.  
> Feedback is welcome. Like it? Hate it? Found one of the many typos or plot holes? Weird phrasing? Something I should have warned/tagged for but didn't? Let me know in the comments.

There is only one temmie capable of normal speech at a time, and they are called either Sam or Bob (regardless of gender). People who spoke to one of them always describe a different temmie.  
Plus some people say that temmies can change sex, but no one is quite sure. Some say they might be able of at least minor shape-shifting, since they swear the tem was a different color/size or had a softer fur…  
There are also rumors about the type of magic tems specialize in, but no one knows for sure. For some reason, they always seem to sell at least one thing that would be useful to the client, but people don't agree on the useful thing they sell.


	2. Reader/Sans, with a depressed Reader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this outline contains several mentions of suicidal ideation, depression, and suicide attempts.
> 
> It takes place on the surface, in a post-pacifist timeline.

Reader being so, so tired. Unbelievably tired. She's depressed and has been dealing with suicidal ideation for years. Then earlier in the day the last straw happened. So she writes a suicide note and just goes out into the night. Her clothes are not appropriate for the weather. She has keys, her note, and a backpack with a rope in it. Plus her phone to guide her to a place with trees (might ditch that depending on whether Muse wants the phone in or not).  
On her way, she bumps against Sans (who is texting or otherwise distracted). It's an accident, she didn't even see him. She apologizes and just goes back to what she was doing. Her note falls out of her pocket but she doesn't notice. Sans pockets the bit of paper when he sees it. He doesn't read it immediately. When he does, he immediately goes looking for the strange woman who bumped into him.

He finds her fairly easily because Plot. She's setting up her rope and still alive. The situation is delicate, so he tries to talk her down. She's set on her decision.  
"It's better for everyone. But you don't have to see that. Can you just... leave?" Sans doesn't agree. It hits too close to home and someone gave him hope, so he might as well pay it forward. He uses magic on Reader’s rope to prevent her from doing it. And Reader's curiosity overcomes her suicidal urges, so she momentarily gives up on killing herself and instead starts asking questions. Sans is stunned at first, then he says he'd answer one question a day if she's still alive at the same hour. So they exchange phone numbers.

Every day at the same hour, she asks one question about magic. They also have text conversations about various stuff. Reader is a very private person but sends memes, random interesting facts, and cat pictures once she's comfortable. Still depressed and makes suicide jokes to cope (never about other people killing themselves because she doesn't want other people to die/get hurt). Sans is also very private, even secretive, but he's funny and a prankster at heart. He occasionally makes depression jokes once he notices that Reader doesn't mind dark humor. He also calls her out on her "everyone needs therapy and self-love (except me)" ways, just like she calls him out on his “I’m fine (even if there are fairly obvious hints that I’m not)” ways.

They hit it off despite their first meeting. It eventually progresses to being friends and hanging out IRL. Reader is a weirdo (unconventional ways to think, into rationality as in “finding out what is true and what should be done to maximize chances to attain goals”, interested in all kinds of sciences including the social ones, has issues with emotions, morals basically “do as you will as long as it harms none”) and cares more about people being interesting than about any other traits they may have. Racism/specism doesn't make sense to her for this reason. People not being humans only matters because it means they have interesting things to say (stuff she hasn't thought about or that she doesn't know yet). She thinks that Papyrus is great (and endearing because he’s sincerely and refreshingly nice), Undyne is really dedicated (and scarily strong), Alphys’ tech is amazing and Alphys herself is a cool person to hang out with (a bit shy and nervous, but smart and passionate about interesting stuff)… Basically, Reader thinks that the entire main cast is friend-shaped. Including Frisk, who is mute and a great kid. Reader didn’t know ASL because she had never taken the time (no one she knew needed it so it wasn’t a priority), but since she now knows Frisk, she needs to learn it. In the meantime, she gives Frisk her number so they can talk without wasting paper or anything. Most of the main cast agrees that Reader is a weirdo, but a cool weirdo.

Reader finds Sans particularly interesting for reasons she can't quite explain. At first she thinks it's just gratefulness for saving her from herself. Then one day, she gets confronted by someone about liking that Sans guy a bit too much. (Sans hears about this and is actually secretly glad. Reader has her faults but she's a fun person to be around. He wouldn't mind giving this a shot.)

Reader thinks about it. She doesn't know. It's been so long since she felt things, how could she know? Sure, he's smart and funny and she loves hanging out with him, but is that necessarily more than platonic? She likes hanging out with everyone, that doesn’t mean she likes them that way. (Does she make more time for Sans than for others? She’s not sure. Maybe she could keep track of the time she spends with everyone and see if there’s any pattern to it?)

Then there's drama about someone (probably Alphys, Undyne, or both) deciding to play matchmaker for Sans, because "having a partner would do him some good!". Reader is enrolled into the matchmaker's plan. Reader goes along with it because it's for Sans' good. Sans goes along with it because they're his friends and they're doing it for his own good (plus free food).

The team sends a few members in disguise to check that the first date is going well. Reader is one of said members. The first date is a knife to her heart. She now knows that she does like Sans that way. And she's never going to let him know, because obviously no one would feel that way for her. Especially not someone who's seen her at such a low point. So Reader becomes a very active member of team "Let's find Sans a partner". Sans learns about Reader's involvement into the matchmaking stuff and understandably interprets this as Reader not being into him. He's disappointed but thinks it's probably normal, since they're different species and all. He got his hopes up and he shouldn't have. No harm done, he'll just... try to see if he can find someone interesting with her help (and drown his sadness into garbage food, because why not). Maybe a small relapse in bad habits, or more tiredness. It’s noticeable, but not enough for people to be too concerned. Only Papyrus really wonders, because he knows his brother well and notices the change.

Reader progressively gets more and more stressed. She still does everything she's supposed to on time (deadlines for college, work, whatever) but she sleeps less and less and she starts to forget to eat. When she does, it's often just the bare minimum or whatever takes the least time (rice, fruit, pasta, homemade yoghurt, whatever is convenient and if possible on the cheap side). Some people notice. Reader just says the end of the academic year is getting close and she'll go back to normal soon. People don't really get more concerned because they have no reason to think she's lying. Sans is concerned because he knows better, but he doesn’t tell anyone because 1) he respects Reader’s privacy and it’s not too concerning yet 2) he can just subtly manipulate their friends into making her care for herself (no way that would fail, right?).

Someone burns down Reader's place over being a presumed monster fucker. Thankfully for her, there was nothing irreplaceable there: she had her laptop and assorted computer stuff with her, her flat only had clothes and essentials because she's a simple person like that (and possibly doesn’t consider it worthwhile for herself to have anything not strictly necessary). Her roommates are pissed (mostly at the arsonist but also a bit at Reader) because they lost everything. Reader just looks at the remains of the building and says nothing. Her eyes are empty. She calls the police because it's the Appropriate Thing to Do.  
(The police in this city are decently competent and not particularly anti monster, but they're overworked. There doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence for this case and no one got hurt, so it's not going to be a priority case)

Sans and Papyrus offer to let her live with them at least until she can get a place of her own. Reader is uncomfortable with accepting charity, but accepts because it's the rational thing to do. She calls her mom  
[optional backstory: a distant woman but a rich one who just pays for everything no questions asked as a replacement for the care she can't give. No father in the picture, Reader’s mother just wanted a child, so she had one.]  
then she does a "report" on the situation. Papyrus is horrified by the lack of feelings in Reader's voice. It's like she's describing something that happened to someone else she didn't care about.

People start seeing that Reader is obviously not as fine as she usually lets them believe. She's mostly functional but her ability to feel things or perform emotions is broken. Sans gets a bad bout of nightmares for an entire week and every time Reader is here, ready to help, because she can't let a friend suffer (and better to help someone than to sleep).  
"I don't need to feel things. You look terrible though. I could make hot chocolate?"

It can't go on like this. It just can't. Sans knows it won't end well if it does. He knows Reader won't care if it ends badly for her, and she won’t ask for help (why would she? She’s here to offer help, not to need it. She’s not worth the help). So Sans gathers team "Let's find Sans a partner" and explains things about Reader. How they met, why he's concerned. He knows it's a massive breach of trust but there are so many red flags all over the place and he's only one person. He could afford to fuck up the machine in his basement. He can't afford to fuck up a person. He needs help to set up an intervention, or at least a rotating roster of people to check that his friend isn't going to do something stupid. Team "Let's keep Reader alive" is formed.

Reader starts noticing things and is mortified. They know. They noticed. She's wasting everyone's time because she couldn't even keep a simple thing to herself. How could she? Her conclusion is that she'd better make sure she won't waste their time anymore. So she plans another attempt. No notes, no written anything, she makes sure to gather what she needs in un-suspicious ways and to hide it from everyone. No one notices because Reader is smart and determined. As long as she doesn't behave in suspicious ways, it's fine. They give her some privacy, and she takes advantage of it.  
[note: tricky to write since if not done right, it could accidentally imply that privacy is a bad thing.]  
She makes an attempt. She almost succeeds, but she's found in time. Not by Sans, but he's called because she needs to be taken to a healer ASAP.  
Reader comes to later. The only thing she says when she does is "Sans?..." and then she just shuts down. She refuses to say anything or even look at people. The healer, as a medical professional, is deeply concerned because what they healed shows premeditation. Reader is obviously a danger to herself.

Sans wants to try again, to make sure Reader won't kill herself. So he starts talking. Reader listens. "wouldn't it be nice, to both... get better together? you're always trying to take care of me or make me take care of myself. isn't it time for you to do the same?"  
She doesn't really react. She's listening, but he can tell he's not reaching her.  
"if you can't do it for yourself, do it for me. are you going to take a friend from me?"  
(he almost says something more, but he doesn't have the _guts_ )  
That's the thing that gets her to speak.  
"Yes. I'm that awful."

Sans says it's not true. He lists what he likes about Reader. Reader thinks it's starting to sound awfully like a confession but thinks that can't be true. She shakes her head because she doesn't believe a word he says. Sans looks at her. "I mean every word." And he says he likes her that way.  
Reader looks at him. She remembers that for monsters, emotions can physically heal or hurt them. "Guess if it's like this... It would be cruel to you to die, then. It'd hurt you..." Sans will take what he gets, so he nods. Then Reader just casually confesses too, because it seems relevant. Sans almost has the monster equivalent of a heart attack because holy shit.

Sans and Reader talk the healer into trying outpatient solutions for her. Since the healer was close enough to hear their heart to heart, they accept (somewhat reluctantly). Sans' and Reader's friends are concerned, but also happy that they confessed. They're not officially a couple because they're not in a good place for now, but it's an option for later when they're better.  
They both go to therapy and make a lot of progress. They get a lot closer and eventually date. The story ends on an optimistic note.  
(Maybe the arsonist is caught. Maybe pro monster legislation is signed into law. Maybe Reader officially becomes an official member of the bros’ household. Maybe all of the above)


	3. Muffet/Reader, with a depressed Reader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this outline contains several mentions of suicidal ideation, depression, and suicide attempts.
> 
> It takes place on the surface, in a post-pacifist timeline.
> 
> This is the Muffet version of the previous chapter. There are some differences, but the Reader is prety much the same.

Reader is so, so tired. Unbelievably tired. She's depressed and has been dealing with suicidal ideation for years. Then earlier in the day the last straw happened. So she writes a suicide note.  
As she does that, she notices a small spider in her room. Reader sets a sheet of paper in front of it and talk to it without expecting it to understand, saying she’ll release the spider outside. The spider, surprisingly, complies. Reader releases it without incident and goes back to writing her note.  
Then she goes out. Her clothes are not appropriate for the weather. She has her keys, her note, and a backpack with a rope in it. Plus her phone to guide her to a place with trees (might ditch that depending on whether Muse wants the phone in or not).  
But there’s a flyer for a new bakery in front of her door. Reader figures out she might as well try it before she dies, especially since it seems to be open 24/7.

On her way, she stops at Muffet’s to get some pastries. She doesn’t really care about the bakery being run by a spider monster or the pastries being made of spiders, because why should she? Monsters are people, and as long as her food isn’t alive, what it’s made of is not her problem.  
She gives all the money she has left on her despite the price being lower than that and tells Muffet to keep the change. The spider lady is intrigued by the strange behavior of that human. She asks her spiders to keep an eye or eight on her.

Reader thinks the pastries are the best thing she ate in a while, but it’s now time to do what she’s supposed to. She compliments Muffet and walks out, not noticing the spiders following her. When she finds a good spot and starts setting up, the spiders see what she’s doing and immediately call Muffet to the rescue, using magic on the human’s rope to delay her (they’re not strong enough to do more than affect the rope, but they can make it too slippery to use or otherwise temporarily unfit for its purpose).

Muffet leaves her bakery to her spiders and monster interns, and goes find the weird human who seems so friendly to spiders. It wouldn’t do to lose someone so promising.  
"It's better for everyone. But you don't have to see that. Can you just... leave?"  
Muffet doesn't agree with that assessment. She argues that the human was a delightful client and that if she dies, Muffet would lose a valuable patron. While the human is distracted, Muffet steals the rope with some quick magic. Reader sees it at the last moment. Her curiosity overcomes her suicidal urges, so she momentarily gives up on killing herself and instead starts asking questions. Muffet is stunned at first, then she says she'd answer one question a day if Reader comes to her bakery. Reader accepts the offer.

Reader swings by every day, usually buys at least one small pastry, and she asks one question about magic. They also have conversations about various things when possible. Muffet starts to ask Reader to test things for her and to give her feedback so she knows what works well with humans. Muffet eventually gives her phone number to the human.  
Reader is a very private person but sends memes, random interesting facts, and cute animal pictures once she's comfortable (including colorful spiders since it seems like Muffet would probably like them). Still depressed and makes suicide jokes to cope (never about other people killing themselves because she doesn't want other people to die/get hurt). Muffet is more talkative from the start, especially when it comes to her beloved spiders or to her bakery. She’s smart and driven, which Reader admires a lot. Muffet also calls Reader out when needed (especially on her "everyone needs therapy and self-love (except me)" ways), which Reader accepts as part of Muffet’s honesty and bluntness.

The two hit it off. It eventually progresses to being friends and hanging out outside of work hours. Reader is a weirdo (unconventional ways to think, into rationality as in “finding out what is true and what should be done to maximize chances to attain goals”, interested in all kinds of sciences including the social ones, has issues with emotions, morals basically “do as you will as long as it harms none”) and cares more about people being interesting than about any other traits they may have. Racism/specism doesn't make sense to her for this reason. People not being humans only matters because it means they have interesting things to say (stuff she hasn't thought about or that she doesn't know yet). She thinks that Sans is funny but a slob, Papyrus is great (and endearing because he’s sincerely and refreshingly nice), Undyne is really dedicated (and scarily strong), Alphys’ tech is amazing and Alphys herself is a cool person to hang out with (a bit shy and nervous, but smart and passionate about interesting stuff)… Basically, Reader thinks that the entire main cast is friend-shaped. Including Frisk, who is mute and a great kid. Reader didn’t know ASL because she had never taken the time (no one she knew needed it so it wasn’t a priority), but since she now knows Frisk, she needs to learn it. In the meantime, she gives Frisk her number so they can talk without wasting paper or anything. Most of the main cast agrees that Reader is a weirdo, but a cool weirdo.

Reader finds Muffet particularly interesting for reasons she can't quite explain. At first she thinks it's just gratefulness for saving her from herself. Then one day, she gets confronted by someone about liking that spider woman a bit too much. (Muffet hears about this and actually considers giving this a shot. Reader has her faults, but she's such a delightful person to be around, and always nice to spiders.)

Reader thinks about it. She doesn't know. It's been so long since she felt things, how could she know? Sure, Muffet is smart and driven and Reader loves hanging out with her, but is that necessarily more than platonic? She likes hanging out with everyone, that doesn’t mean she likes them that way. (Does she make more time for Muffet than for others? She’s not sure. Maybe she could keep track of the time she spends with everyone and see if there’s any pattern to it?)

Then there's drama about someone (probably Alphys, Undyne, or both) deciding to play matchmaker for Muffet, because "running a bakery is great, but she needs some me time too!". Reader is enrolled into the matchmaker's plan. Reader goes along with it because it's for Muffet’s good. Muffet decides to go along with it because they're her friends, doing it for her own good, and because they have a point. Plus networking can only help her spiders.

The team sends a few members in disguise to check that the first date is going well. Reader is one of said members. The first date is a knife to her heart. She now knows that she does like Muffet that way. And she's never going to let her know, because obviously no one would feel that way for her. Especially not someone who's seen her at such a low point. So Reader becomes a very active member of team "Let's find Muffet a partner".

Muffet learns about Reader's involvement into the matchmaking stuff and understandably interprets this as Reader not being into her. She's slightly disappointed but thinks it's probably to be expected, since they're different species and Reader has yet to display any romantic inclinations for anyone regardless of species or gender. No harm done, she'll just... try to see if she can find someone interesting with her help (and hide her sadness behind a mask, since being sad over unrequited love is just unsightly). Maybe a small relapse in bad habits (raising prices a tad higher), or more tiredness that has nothing to do with physical effort. It’s noticeable, but not enough for people to be too concerned. Only her spiders really wonder, because they know her well and notice the change.

Reader progressively gets more and more stressed. She still does everything she's supposed to on time (deadlines for college, work, whatever) but she sleeps less and less and she starts to forget to eat, even at Muffet’s. When she does, it's often just the bare minimum or whatever takes the least time (rice, fruit, pasta, homemade yoghurt, whatever is convenient and if possible on the cheap side). Some people notice. Reader just says the end of the academic year is getting close and she'll go back to normal soon. People don't really get more concerned because they have no reason to think she's lying. Muffet is concerned because she knows better, but she doesn’t tell anyone because  
1) she respects Reader’s privacy and there’s still time for things to change  
2) she doesn’t have all the information she needs to take action, and we all know what happens when you act without having all the relevant information, don’t we? She could have hurt poor Frisk over a dirty lie…

Someone burns down Reader's place over being a presumed monster fucker. Thankfully for her, there was nothing irreplaceable there: she had her laptop and assorted computer stuff with her, her flat only had clothes and essentials because she's a simple person like that (and possibly doesn’t consider it worthwhile for herself to have anything not strictly necessary). Her roommates are pissed (mostly at the arsonist but also a bit at Reader) because they lost everything. Reader just looks at the remains of the building and says nothing. Her eyes are empty. She calls the police because it's the Appropriate Thing to Do.  
(The police in this city are decently competent and not particularly anti monster, but they're overworked. There doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence for this case and no one got hurt, so it's not going to be a priority case)

Muffet’s place is for some reason not suitable, so Sans and Papyrus offer to let her live with them at least until she can get a place of her own. Reader is uncomfortable with accepting charity, but accepts because it's the rational thing to do. She calls her mom  
[optional backstory: a distant woman but a rich one who just pays for everything no questions asked as a replacement for the care she can't give. No father in the picture, Reader’s mother just wanted a child, so she had one.]  
then she does a "report" on the situation. Papyrus is horrified by the lack of feelings in Reader's voice. It's like she's describing something that happened to someone else she didn't care about.

People start seeing that Reader is obviously not as fine as she usually lets them believe. She's mostly functional but her ability to feel things or perform emotions is broken. Sans gets a bad bout of nightmares for an entire week and every time Reader is here, ready to help, because she can't let a friend suffer (and better to help someone than to sleep).  
"I don't need to feel things. You look terrible though. I could make hot chocolate?"

The brothers think something isn’t quite right with Reader and contact Muffet about it, explaining that they fear for her mental health. Muffet understands that the situation is extremely serious, and knows things won't end well if they go on like this. She knows Reader won't care if it ends badly for her, and she won’t ask for help (why would she? She’s here to offer help, not to need it. She’s not worth the help). So Muffet gathers team "Let's find Muffet a partner" and explains things about Reader. How they met, why she's concerned. She knows it's a massive breach of trust but there are so many red flags all over the place and her spiders can only do so much. She needs help to set up an intervention, or at least a rotating roster of people to check that her friend isn't going to do something stupid. Team "Let's keep Reader alive" is formed.

Reader starts noticing things and is mortified. They know. They noticed. She's wasting everyone's time because she couldn't even keep a simple thing to herself. How could she? Her conclusion is that she'd better make sure she won't waste their time anymore. So she plans another attempt. No notes, no written anything, she makes sure to gather what she needs in un-suspicious ways and to hide it from everyone. No one notices because Reader is smart and determined. As long as she doesn't behave in suspicious ways, it's fine. They give her some privacy, and she takes advantage of it.  
[note: tricky to write since if not done right, it could accidentally imply that privacy is a bad thing.]

She makes an attempt. She almost succeeds, but she's found in time. Not by Muffet. Sans is called because Reader needs to be taken to a healer ASAP, and Muffet is notified by her spiders (plus Sans, but his message arrives after the spiders’)  
Reader comes to later. The only thing she says when she does is "Muffet?..." and then she just shuts down. She refuses to say anything or even look at people. The healer, as a medical professional, is deeply concerned because what they healed shows premeditation. Reader is obviously a danger to herself.

Muffet will not accept that state of affairs: Reader is her dear friend and she has to do something. So she starts talking. Reader listens. She doesn't really react. She's listening, but Muffet can tell she's not reaching Reader.  
"If you won't do it for yourself, do it for me. Don't take a dear friend from me, Reader."  
(she almost says something more, but she’s not sure it’s the right time)  
That's the thing that gets her to speak.  
"Yes. I'm that awful."

Muffet says it's not true. She lists what she likes about Reader. Reader thinks it's starting to sound awfully like a confession but thinks that can't be true. She shakes her head because she doesn't believe a word Muffet says, it doesn’t sound like her at all, Muffet is just being really nice because Reader is a valuable client. Muffet looks at her. "I mean every word, dearie." And she says she likes her that way.  
Reader looks at her. She remembers that for monsters, emotions can physically heal or hurt them. "Guess if it's like this... It would be cruel to you to die, then. It'd hurt you..." Muffet will take what she gets, so she says that it’s true. Then Reader just casually confesses too, because it seems relevant. Muffet laughs, because it seems like both of them are idiots and have been dancing around each other when the answer was right here all along. She hugs Reader tight.

Muffet and Reader talk the healer into trying outpatient solutions for her. Since the healer was close enough to hear their heart to heart, they accept (somewhat reluctantly). Muffet’s and Reader's friends are concerned, but also happy that they confessed. They're not officially a couple because Reader is not in a good place for now, but it's an option for later when she’s better.  
Reader goes to therapy and makes a lot of progress. Reader and Muffet get a lot closer and eventually date. The story ends on an optimistic note.  
(Maybe the arsonist is caught. Maybe pro monster legislation is signed into law. Maybe Reader officially becomes an official member of the spider household. Maybe all of the above)


	4. Reader & Sans, carrying your friend around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Originally written for a specific Reader in a WIP. Could be platonic or not, you choose)  
> This one is a short, funny idea I had

Sans on a bad day. Doesn't want to get up or anything. Barely slept, doesn't talk much. Reader doesn't know what to do and can’t reach Papyrus. So Reader decides to just carry Sans around until he feels better.  
The kids: Why are you carrying him around?  
Reader: … Why aren't you?  
The kids: He's bigger than most of us.  
Reader: Well, he isn't bigger than me.  
The kids: …  
Reader: …  
The kids: Yeah, fair. Hey, can you carry us too?

(In another universe, on the surface)  
Store manager: Ma'am, you can't bring…  
Reader: Wow, rude. Sans is a sir, not a ma'am. And I guess you'll have to do the shopping alone, since they don't allow emotional support animals in there.  
Store manager: Ma'am?…  
Sans: She's my emotional support human.  
Store manager: …  
Reader: Yep. I'm the pet here.  
[Note: this relies on a private joke about Reader being the bros’ adopted pet]  
Store manager: (I'm not paid enough for this) *mental facepalm*  
Reader: So now that we've established that we're all sapient creatures, can we do the shopping we came here for or do I have to file a complaint?


	5. Reader & Fire elemental

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (originally written for a specific Reader in a WIP and a fire elemental OC named Safire, Grillby’s daughter)
> 
> This takes place in the Underground. It could work just fine for Grillby himself, I just wanted a female fire elemental.

Reader getting drunk on something that logically shouldn't get her drunk, but sometimes humans react weirdly to stuff (see: alcohol, drugs). She starts getting very affectionate. Hugging everyone in range. Faceplanting a couple of time. Blurting out that the waitress is the hottest woman she's ever met and that anyone would be lucky to date her.  
Then since Reader’s impulse control is shot, she tries to ask the waitress out. The poor woman rejects her saying she's drunk and 'come back when you're sober'. Reader is all 'oh I'm sorry I didn't want to bother you', the woman says 'you should go home', Reader is a good girl and tries to leave. It’s not really successful. She eventually manages with Sans' help. Sans thinks it's hilarious and he should get Reader drunk more often.  
The following day, Reader is horrified and goes back to the bar to apologize. She offers to help with anything (a supply run in the Garbage Dump for example, she's strong and can move stuff for them) to make it up to the poor waitress. And then they start hanging out and become friends. Sans regularly tells everyone how they met though. Especially the bit where Reader says to Safire, a fire elemental, that she’s the hottest woman Reader has ever met.  
Reader dies a little inside every time because she’s an idiot when she’s drunk. Safire thinks it’s half hilarious and half embarrassing.


	6. Monster hygiene headcanons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what prompted this, but isn't it an important thing to consider?

Most monsters have a bathroom, though rarely one equipped with toilets.  
Toriel is over two thousand years old (or at least very old). She’s very traditional and still uses soap and water only to wash herself instead of magic like any modern magical being.  
Most monsters could wash themselves without soap/water but it’s comforting. There’s public discourse on whether magic alone or soap and water alone is the more efficient option, with some claiming that the best way is to use both at once.

Most don’t have toilets because magic food doesn’t produce physical waste. The few who do are human enthusiasts.


	7. Some magic-related headcanons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to work out a canon-compliant magic system. Not sure how good it is, but it was fun.

Magic has a physical effect on concrete things. Even souls and ghosts are physical in a way. You can’t use magic on concepts or abstract entities. The Void is not real enough for magic to affect it, though individual creatures or items in it could be affected.  


Magic comes in 12 flavors, but only 7 are considered colors.

• **White magic** is neutral. It’s physical and doesn’t have any additional effect. All monsters can use it, but it’s difficult for humans to learn. Bullet patterns are usually mostly made of it.  
• **Gray magic** is also neutral. It’s not physical and doesn’t have any particular effect. Most monsters can use it, most humans are able to learn. It’s mostly used for messages, but also for ghost food and items.  
• **Black magic** is rare and mostly just manifests around the Core. Not much is known about it, but it seems to bend time and space. (It actually bends reality. The Void grants some form of it to people who come in contact with it, regardless of species.)

• **Purple magic** (perseverance) is a form of barrier. If it’s active, it can be used to make people move in a specific way, as per Muffet’s fight. If it’s passive, it can prevent from entering or leaving an area.  
• **Dark blue/blue magic** (integrity) affects gravity. If it’s active, it can be used as a form of telekinesis. If it’s passive, it can mess with gravity on a specific area or object.  
• **Light blue/cyan magic** (patience) is a form of restraint. If it’s active, it can freeze someone/something. If it’s passive, it can deal damage to something that is moving.  
• **Green magic** (kindness) is protective. If it’s active, it can make a shield. If it’s passive, it can heal. It is often used in monster food.  
• **Yellow magic** (justice) is unbreakable. If it’s active, it can be used as a weapon, though it can do heavy damage if you’re not careful. If it’s passive, it can be used as some form of ward, or to reinforce a ward.  
• **Orange magic** (bravery) is a stimulant. If it’s active, it can be used to boost something or someone. If it’s passive, it can deal damage to something that doesn’t move. It is sometimes used in monster food.  
• **Red magic** (determination) affects the self. If it’s active, it can be used to shape-shift (this is why Flowey can change shapes to some extent). If it’s passive, it can be used as fuel (often for another type of magic). Humans are particularly good at it. Monsters generally can’t use it, partly because determination in high dose tends to react poorly with magic (destabilizing it and often leading to monsters melting).

• **Elemental magic** : water, fire, earth, air, but also other types such as metal, electricity, light, dark, acid, energy, ice, etc. Most people (humans and monsters) who can use magic can use at least one type.

• **Soul magic** : a lost human art, since most surface mages no longer have enough power to do it. Magic powered by soul sacrifice, whether it is only part of one’s soul, sacrifice of one’s soul, or sacrifice of another soul. It’s unknown if monsters can use it, as it would be the greatest taboo of their culture.


	8. Ghost in the machine AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Reader edition
> 
> This one takes place in a post pacifist timeline. 
> 
> It's based on something I wrote in June 2018 and have wanted to rewrite since. I'd do an equivalent with a monster as the ghost, but Skeleton Ex Machina by cryptid_jack already has that covered.
> 
> It could also be used with Alphys, considering she's a tech enthusiast. But maybe the whole Mettaton mess would make it difficult (robot body created for a ghost soul, but somehow MTT ended up mistaken for an artificial soul?)
> 
> Does it count as Major character death if the character is already dead when the story starts?

Sans buys a used laptop on the surface. The humans he bought it from are closed off. Little to no information apart from the fact that it was used but in good condition.

The laptop works just fine. Sometimes weird stuff happens: a text document he didn’t create appears, a new tab opens, but overall it’s not concerning. Maybe just quirks from incompletely wiping out the hard drive. Antivirus software doesn’t detect anything, neither does anything else. Alphys checks the computer for him, but she doesn’t see anything strange.

Sometimes weird but positive things happen. Typos corrected. Relevant tabs opened. Ads skipped. One day, he opens his browser to find that an add-on called uBlock Origin was installed. He’s glad there’s no more ads, but how did it get there? Papyrus swears he’s not responsible for any of this and Sans believes his brother.

Sans starts suspecting there’s an AI on the computer, except it hides for some reason. He goes looking for the AI. He scours the human Internet for anything like what he’s experiencing, but there’s nothing on the computer that corresponds to any known AI. Plus the laptop was wiped so even if there had been one, it shouldn’t have remained after a full wipe.

The entity turns out to be some sort of human ghost. The ghost of the previous owner. They are aware that they no longer own the laptop (at least legally speaking). They also know they’re dead, but won’t say a word about how they died. They’re also unwilling to say much about who they were. They're very curious about monsters though.

The new owner and the former one share the laptop. The ghost gets to use it at night. Sometimes helps with work.

The ghost behaves in strange ways sometimes. The ghost is mostly helpful (they have no reason not to be) but in some ways inhuman (a ghost doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t eat. it has no physical needs and it shows). The ghost blames being dead and no longer having a body. They also imply there are upsides to this state, but it’s not for everyone. But they still have insights into what being human was like, because they remember.

After a while, the ghost figures out how to get into other devices (mainly Sans’s phone). Sometimes they follow Sans around. They don’t show themself to other people, but sometimes they get curious and get into other people’s devices. The ghost tends to prefer computers and laptops over phones or tablets.

Above all the ghost is curious. They like to learn and to do things. They like to get new information and don’t always think about privacy or the law. Not like the law could do anything to them anyway. They’re also perfectly willing to hack anti monster humans’ things for Sans. They'd rather not be credited for some reason. It's almost as if the ghost didn't want people to know it existed...

The ghost refuses to be named. They ask to be referred to by a letter. Pronouns don’t really matter to them (why would it matter? They no longer live in a body, so they have no reason to care about sex/gender). Their sense of time is different from a human’s or a monster’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it stops, because it could go in any number of directions and I'm still undecided.


	9. Alternate items

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make a plotline about time being wonky in the Underground and not matching up with surface time. One hint would have been items that look a lot fairly recent but are actually from a long time ago.  
> So I considered some alternative items from the previous fallen humans. These items are all from the past, since items from the future would have made the timeline unnecessarily complicated.

Red (Determination?): Worn Dagger/Real Knife and Heart Locket/Locket → Worn Dagger/Real Knife and Heart Amulet/Amulet

Orange (Bravery): Tough Glove and Manly Bandanna → Heavy Gauntlets and Shiny Helmet

Yellow (Justice): Empty Gun and Cowboy Hat → Homemade Sling and Fancy Cape

Green (Kindness): Burnt Pan and Stained Apron → Shattered Pot and Old Robe

Light Blue (Patience): Toy Knife and Faded Ribbon → Blunt Knife and Faded Ribbon

Blue (Integrity): Ballet shoes and Old Tutu → Dance Boots and Traditional Dance Dress

Purple (Perseverance): Torn Notebook and Cloudy Glasses → Torn Parchment/Broken Clay Shard and Reading Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some items were fine as they were. I wasn't looking for a specific time period so they're all over the place, and of course there could be many other choices.
> 
> I checked and there doesn't seem to be anything in canon saying that the red soul trait is determination, hence the question mark.


	10. Vampire Reader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a very rough outline and takes place in a post-pacifist timeline.
> 
> I see a few fics with a vampire reader/MC, which is actually a cool concept, and a lot of fics which use the machine as a way to have a 6+ skeletons set up. Some mix the two.  
> The 6+ skeletons set up is usually a reverse harem, but it doesn't have to be (here, it's possible, but I left it out because that wasn't what I was interested in). And I'd also like to have alternate everyone else too, so the option to have other alternate monsters in the universe-hopper team is included.
> 
> Another thing about Reader's age in this: age gaps are not my thing and being 100+ would mean Reader has seen most if not all her loved ones die, two things I'd rather not write about if I can avoid it, so I made Reader a young vampire. The "10 years ago" thing can be adjusted as needed.
> 
> Warning: fictional racism/speciesm, murders (no description), one guy trying to take over the world

**_10 years ago_**  
Reader, an ordinary human, had a run-in with a vampire trying to take over the world. The vampire turned promising people (people who had the potential to be mages and that they felt would be easily influenced), trying to make an army. Reader was strong-willed enough to resist her maker’s will, so they attacked her.  
Reader fought back. They hurt each other, and she fled. The maker was not seriously injured, but enough to lose their grip on some of their army. So the maker fled Reader’s city.  
Reader spent the next years figuring things out. She knew pretty much right away she had been turned into a vampire, because it was the best explanation even if it was outlandish. It seems like literature didn’t quite get vampires right.

**_How to be a vampire for dummies_**  
Vampires have souls. They look like upside down hearts, unlike human souls. But that’s pretty much the only difference soul-wise. They’re somewhere between humans and monsters. Not quite one, not quite the other.

Vampires can survive just fine during the day… if they’re well-fed. Their resistance to sunlight decreases proportionally to their reserves.

Vampires need fresh blood. Human is best, animal can do in a pinch. As long as the blood comes straight from a living being (or a very recently dead one), it doesn’t matter. If the blood has spent roughly 7 minutes or more outside of a body, it no longer sates a vampire’s thirst.  
There’s no particular incentive to kill prey, as it’s easier to just drink the same quantity of blood from different people and leave them alive so they can be drunk from another day. There’s no extra boost to be gained from killing, and since vampires can erase memories, it’s actually more dangerous since it’s noticeable.  
(Vampires don’t actually need blood, they need life energy. Monsters would be viable prey, but most vampires don’t let themselves go so underfed that they get to notice. In biological beings, life energy is carried through the body by blood, while in magical beings, magic does the same.)

The less reserves a vampire has, the more feral they will get. Their instincts will start to go haywire. Their senses will be enhanced so they can find suitable prey (some vampires get enhanced sight, some smell, some hearing, etc). They will be more vulnerable to sunlight. Their powers will decrease. They will get more and more obsessed by the idea of getting blood. Prolonged periods without blood (or rather life energy) can drive them mad.  
The feeling one gets when their reserves are low is called the thirst. It increases as the reserves decrease.

Life energy is a renewable resource for most living beings, but vampires can’t produce life energy on their own. They can produce magic, but that’s it.  
The upside is that they can live indefinitely as long as they get life energy, unlike most living beings who eventually stop producing enough and run out.  
A vampire who has zero life energy will progressively stop functioning. It won’t die, but it will progressively get stripped down to a soul as all non-vital processes shut down. The soul can survive indefinitely in this state, but it will not be conscious or react to anything. It is an extremely vulnerable state. Vampires can theoretically come back from this state, but the circumstances necessary for this to happen are extremely rare, and the few who did come back were often driven insane by the experience.

Vampires can technically eat or drink human-made stuff. Drinking is usually fine, eating can cause issues because their digestive system is a lot more delicate. Monster food, which directly converts to energy, is always fine.

Vampires can have all sorts of powers, it’s a bit of a lottery. Base ones are shape-shifting (which includes self-healing, lets them fake growing old or just change identities, allows them to turn into animals…) and mind manipulation (erasing memories, giving minor commands, making themselves unnoticeable). Many also have other magic powers. Illusions are a fairly common one.

The vampires who have magic powers would have been mages as humans if there had been more magic on the surface. In the absence of enough magic, it takes a spark (such as being turned) for their gifts to come to light. After the monsters come to the surface and start using magic there, more and more humans find that they too can use magic.

Like monsters, vampires are vulnerable to intent. Religious symbols can affect them for this reason. Vampires aren’t really affected unless there’s protective intent against them, and many humans at least subconsciously think of vampires as evil.  
They can’t enter people’s homes without an invitation (stated or implied) because home is for family. It has to do with subconscious intent.  
Killing a vampire requires intent.

Vampires can also wield intent like humans. For example, their saliva is a natural anesthetic and accelerates healing, so being bitten doesn’t really feel like anything and heals quickly. But if a vampire wants to, they can make the victim feel something (good or bad, depending on intent).

Being bitten isn’t enough to become a vampire. The maker has to reach out to their victim’s soul and to want to make them vampires.

Vampires technically don’t need to breathe, have a heartbeat, or sleep. They could survive entirely on life energy. But since they were born human, most of them think it’s rather uncomfortable not to. Sleeping also lowers their life energy consumption.

Vampires come in several categories:  
* the ones who don’t care if they kill when they feed or actively try to kill their prey. They are usually called killers or red fangs. They tend to be individualistic. They are often hunted by fellow vampires for endangering the peace, and the primary targets of all hunters.  
* the ones who hunt fellow vampires exclusively. They are usually called cannibals or black fangs. They are often hunted down by fellow vampires and sometimes by hunters.  
* the ones who avoid killing except in self-defense. They are often called gray fangs.  
* the ones who refuse to kill. They are usually called pacifists or white fangs.  
* the one who try blend in with humans. They are usually called Alucards (it’s a bit of a joke), or cards for short.  
* the ones who avoid humans except when they want to feed. They tend to be called catfish or baiters.

Vampire hunters come in two categories:  
* the ones that hunt indiscriminately (and are often hunted by both vampires and other hunters for endangering the peace). They are also called the Spikes.  
* the ones that only hunt down the dangerous vampires, and often have contacts with some vampires, since it’s easier to keep everything hush if you have a vampire to erase memories/evidence on your side. They are also called the Good Knives.

**_Present_**  
Monsters just got out of the Underground. Many human rights activists join pro monster organizations, as well as all sorts cryptid enthusiasts and assorted supernatural fans. There are also racist groups, because tribalism has yet to die, but the overall reaction to monsters seems to be cautious enthusiasm: there is a non-human species out there after all.

Reader is rather curious about monsters: since she was about to move anyway, she decides to move to Ebott. She works in IT (dev? Software developer? Software engineer? In any case, work-at-home material), so where she lives doesn’t really matter. Especially when her boss is a vampire who wants to move to Ebott too…  
She buys an old house in the woods (for fairly cheap since the new owners didn’t want to keep the house of a Bad Grandparent) and starts setting up there (including ways to make sure wifi is decent enough for her purposes). It’s close enough to Ebott to be convenient, but far enough to decrease the risk of being found out. She sets up illusions so no one notices her house. Few people come to those woods anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful. Her goal is to avoid being found out as a vampire.

Sans visits his old house in Snowdin one last time about a month in to dismantle the machine in the basement. He fucks up and accidentally pulls a number of people who were in alternate versions of his house into this universe.  
The machine was made to free monsters from the Underground, so it pulls people from universes in which monsters are still underground. Mostly skeletons (bros and sis), but in some universes, friends who were visiting, and in at least one someone who wanted to attack the skeletons in their home.

Sans realizes he fucked up big time. And the machine only goes one way (plus could he morally send them back? He just escaped his Underground, can he force others to go back?). What does he do with all these people whose presence he can’t explain to monsters? Well, luckily for him, humans don’t know who is or is not supposed to exist in this universe. As long as they register like everyone else and don’t get noticed by monsters, it’ll be fine.  
So Sans decides to use his new money (he exchanged all his Gs early on, humans love gold. It’s a bit harder now, but after some regulations monsters who haven’t exchanged their gold yet still have a lot of money to make) to build houses in an isolated place no monster will get close to: in the woods surrounding Mt Ebott. He gets the proper permits and everything fairly quickly, and the houses are built quickly by all the AU people. They form a skelecommunity of sorts (some are not actually skeletons or AU skeletons).

Reader is a bit annoyed by all the new people but she did hide her house, so they couldn’t have known. She already tended to shape-shift to get in or out of her house, but now it’s necessary to avoid detection.

Except a member of the skelecommunity eventually finds her while patrolling around the area. She was hunting a deer as a wolf and got too focused on the chase.

Two options here:  
* either she’s found by a Fell/Horror type, in which case they’ll try to chase her away, get into a fight, and realize the wolf has a very strange soul, prompting her to run away and the skeletons to be on the look out for people who can turn into animals.  
* or she’s found by a normal/Swap type (Papyrus personality), in which case they’ll probably try to adopt her only to realize that the “ANIMAL WOLF” is actually a person.

In any case, the skelecommunity now knows that there is a shape-shifter in the woods. A shape-shifter who is very good at hiding. The science types (which includes at least one Alphys and/or Swap Undyne) figure out a way to check for magical signatures in the wood in case the shape-shifter comes back… Only to discover that the shape-shifter was very close all along. After discussing it as a group, they send two of their own with a live animal to try to get along with their neighbor.

Reader is distressed to see that her illusions didn’t hold up to the intruders. She gets out of the house under the shape of a cloud of bats (small, agile, flying, have claws and fangs so they can defend themselves, and also traditional) and starts an encounter out of fear but gets talked out of it fairly quickly when she sees they don’t attack and even brought food for her. The monsters got a chance to check her during the encounter and have her real name.  
After talking it out, Reader and the skelecommunity decide to give each other a chance. Reader reassures the monsters that she doesn’t kill and don’t think they’d be viable preys anyway, the monsters promise they won’t out her as non-human as long as she’s not a danger.

So they cohabit in the forest. Reader gives them tips for their patrols or about the forest in general while making sure they don’t get into her house uninvited, they let her go as she pleases and keep an eye on her EXP. As long as it remains 0, there won’t be any problem. Some monsters are friendlier than others. Horror types are delighted to hunt with Reader, since she only needs the blood and often gives the meat to people in need anyway. The Fell types often don’t take her too seriously (at least at first) since she’s a killing machine who refuses to kill. Some of the science types wonder if they could use her skill set to help in one way or another with the machine (not necessarily directly).  
Not to send people back, but to bring their own Underground in this universe (it would be difficult to explain, but monster numbers are so low, and the monster monarchy would definitely approve if they knew of the project anyway).

Reader is concerned about suspicious trends in Ebott: it seems like there is a lot of vampire activity in and around the city, which makes sense considering everyone’s attention was attracted by monsters. This means that unsavory individuals were also drawn in. And of course there would be at least one nut-job who would try to make a vampire army…  
So Reader, who checked who the members of the skelecommunity were and found out that they know Frisk, tells them to warn any human friend about going out alone, especially at night. She also contacts the few vampires and Knives she knows so they can contain the threat.

A small-ish group of fresh new vampires decides to explore the woods because there’s something familiar in there that calls out to them. They stumble upon one of the monsters living here and one of them, a monster hater, starts a fight. The others follow suit because the monster hater is one of their own. The monster is a good fighter but can’t fight that group as effectively as they’d like. They’re in trouble until backup arrives, in the form of a patrol. The new vampires are detained and Reader called. She feels the same familiarity for the newbies as they do for her. She’s really concerned about this. There’s also the fact that at least one is a monster hater… What does she do? There’s no precedent for this. The monsters can’t keep them: it would mean war. It could even mean a three-way war between humans, monsters, and vampires. This would be a disaster scenario. Reader is smart enough to know she’s out of her depth.

The skelecommunity contacts their monarchy and tells them about vampires, not mentioning their friendly neighbor but explaining that they need help with almost-monsters. The monster monarchy is divided on the issue: Asgore thinks vampires are a danger, Toriel suspects that the forest group is hiding a friendly vampire from them. The matter is settled by one Good Knife org who track down the new vampires and come to the monster monarchy to offer their specialized containment cells.  
Meanwhile, a group of fanatic Spikes is planning to bait vampires into revealing their existence to the world. Vampires can erase memories and most of them are careful around technology, but there’s only so much they can hide.

A group of monster haters starts to cause trouble, protesting against monsters’ rights and destroying monster businesses (as well as monster-friendly businesses). Vampires in general are divided: should they be pro-monster, anti-monster, or just distance themselves from the debate until they know which side is going to win? It’s not like humans know how to check for vampirism after all. Or even know vampires do exist…  
Reader is pro-monster, though like most vampires she just wants people to leave her alone. She can probably do something to make life easier for monsters and more difficult for hateful humans though.

An anti-monster political party is starting to become prominent in the nation, and despite everyone’s (monster monarchy, Frisk, and various groups interested in monsters’ rights) best efforts, they’re a rising force in politics. They’re using rather reasonable-sounding arguments to make life more difficult for monsters. Some of their tactics are criticized for making life more difficult for humans as well, but humans are a vast majority and many don’t seem to care. Some vampires also seem to think that as long as they can fake being humans, they’ll be fine.

Reader is getting closer to some of the forest-dwelling monsters and starting to get more social in general. Since there are pockets of monster acceptance, an in-betweener like her could also reasonably be accepted, right? And if she isn’t… Well, vampires tend to look out for each other. There are ways to disappear and get a new identity.  
But then some Spikes livestream the making of a vampire and the video goes viral. (Most) humans and monsters alike are floored to learn that vampire exist. Some AMP start to call for a witch hunt, since there are monsters hiding in human form. Reader is panicking. The skelecommunity wants to help, but is a bit out of their depth. They offer to let her pose as one of their own if necessary.  
Reader appreciates it.

Then the local group of monster haters decides to start targeting monsters for physical violence after a minor incident involving a monster (a kid who got scared and used bullets on a human, causing a minor injury? Something minor that could easily be twisted). Of course, the isolated monsters in the woods are considered easy targets, because they live far from any potential help.  
The group happens to find Reader first, since she was out hunting with Horror types. Reader can feel the LOVE from where she is. She has to do something. She has to fight.  
Since she’s human-like, she doesn’t need to start an encounter (though being emotional will often trigger one regardless). The bigots see the unnatural behavior of the beast in front of them and recognize it as a vampire. They try to kill Reader, but it’s not her first time fighting against a group of humans who want her dead and she has the advantage of being a shape-shifter. She manages to lure them to an empty part of the forest while a part of her goes to to skelecommunity to call for help. She escapes unscathed (or with injuries that will heal quickly?).

The major pro monsters’ rights organization employing Frisk as one of their mascots is lobbying for full equal rights for any non-human beings, and has prepared a bill to that effect. Considering that the truth about vampires is now out, most of them now have to side with monsters or risk being hunted down if they are found out.  
While vampires don’t have an actual hierarchy since too many are solitary or just refuse to follow leaders of their own will, there seems to be a tentative alliance between vampires and monsters.

The science types are more and more curious about what vampires can and can’t do. They ask Reader’s permission to study her. Reader has no objection as long as she can say no/stop any experiment if she feels the need to. It is discovered that vampires can actually feed on monsters, and the real nature of what they feed on (vampires couldn’t have tested for that without a non-human species with a soul to check). Some members of the skelecommunity are understandably freaked out. Reader points out that she has spent years among humans without incidents, and that she makes sure to get enough sustenance anyway, so it’s unlikely that she’ll turn against them. Someone speculates on what would happen if a vampire tried to turn a monster. Reader isn’t willing to find out.

The local AM group attempts a terrorist attack in a densely monster-populated area of Ebott. Attempts, because Frisk still has the power to save and reload, and prevents the attack from succeeding. The skelecommunity is starting to get very tense. The local AM Party makes a public statement that officially condemns the attack but implies that monsters should at least go back to the Underground. There’s a public debate about this.

Several vampires are dusted by Spikes. They were respected members of the community, and it causes an outcry: both because there’s no telling who is a vampire, and because people were murdered.

Tensions escalate as the date for a vote on the pro non-human beings’ rights bill gets closer. Most violent incidents are caused by humans, and there are a few casualties on both sides (most being monsters, but some are humans and were killed in self-defense). The skelecommunity now only moves in groups, and tries to get Reader to do the same. She’s having a hard time changing her habits (she’s a shape-shifter, can’t she just go stealth?).  
Unfortunately, that results in a close call with a competent Spike. Though not even the skelecommunity’s security measures are entirely human-proof: they get a few attacks by ingenious humans, resulting in them having to upgrade their defenses.

Frisk gets kidnapped shortly before the vote. The organization is blackmailed: either they back down or Frisk dies. The people in the know about Frisk’s abilities know this is a threat that can’t be acted on but can’t explain the full details to others, simply stating that there is a plan to rescue Frisk.  
Reader isn’t in the know, but is contacted by a subgroup of Frisk’s organization which wants to free them. Reader accepts without talking about it to her neighbors (“the less we talk about it outside this place, the less chances the plan will get leaked”).

Frisk frees themself, but is ultimately rescued by a small human-vampire team. They are safely returned to their monster family by Reader, while unbeknownst to either of them, a human member of the team sets up a bomb in the base of the kidnappers. This results in a political nightmare. The vote on the non-human rights bill is affected: the results are close, but it passes by a few votes.

Reader having helped save Frisk means they can’t stay in the shadows anymore: she ends up on the news, and her maker seeks her out, determined to win her over to their cause. She still refuses, and hasn’t grown any less strong-willed over the years. Her maker will not take no for an answer: they want to take over the world, and this girl is theirs.  
The skelecommunity doesn’t agree with that assessment. One of the Fell types particularly disagrees with the idea of that mediocre vampire trying to take away their vampire, let alone rule the world: when Reader’s maker attacks them, maker quickly gets dusted by a high LOVE monster.

It turns out a lot of the anti monster bullshit had been directly or indirectly caused by the maker’s plot to take over the world: divide and conquer was their tactic, and humans are easily influenced by mind manipulation. Without the shadow leader’s influence and money, the anti monster groups get a lot less done. Monster acceptance gets more and more widespread, with in-betweeners and surfacers also reaping the benefits. It turns out there is a number of surface monsters and not-quite-monsters.

Epilogue  
Many monsters from many universes are gathered for a Liberation party. Many figures from the prime universe also attend: the monster monarchy, Frisk, and Reader among them.  
There are toasts to tolerance and science. Things are looking up, both figuratively (monsters’ rights) and literally (fireworks).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might change it/work a bit more on it later. I kinda like it as it is, but it needs a lot more work.


	11. Bitty AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found an interesting bitty story so I thought I'd give my own take on it. This is a Gen story (romance with a bitty strikes me as a fundamentally unequal relationship), so no romance here.
> 
> While skeleton bitties are the most common in the bitty genre, it could be literally any type. I said two, but there could be more, it’s just a rough outline.
> 
> Warnings: people (mages) being captured and exploited, bitties being sold as pets despite being non-human people

Monsters have been imprisoned for thousands of years, long enough that they are now considered legends on the surface. Mages, being the only magical beings left, were hunted down a couple generations later: nowadays, most mages hide their magic from others out of fear. The few who don’t tend to be captured, sometimes even executed. People who capture mages often exploit their powers. One person (temporary name: Preston Jones) finds out about mages’ familiars and decides he’s going to make profit out of it.

Familiars are made by using some monster dust (monsters naturally shed dust, like humans shed dead skin cells) and infusing it with magic. When the dust is saturated with magic, it creates an artificial soul. Familiars tend to be made out of small quantities of dust and to be small themselves, because otherwise they would be very noticeable. The type of familiar depends on the dust, but their personality depends on intent and type of magic used.  
(So in short: Undyne’s dust will only get you Undyne bitties no matter what you do, but depending on intent and type of magic, you could get UT Undyne, US Undyne, UF Undyne, etc)  
Magic and magic particles tend to circulate, so monster dust can be found pretty much anywhere if you know what to look for.

Jones gets a few teams of captured mages and starts mass-scale production of familiars. They are rebranded as bitties and sold as intelligent, artificial pets to the masses. He also starts selling derived products, including magic food (because some types of familiars can’t eat physical food, plus magic food has a few benefits even for humans) and general bitty care. Bitties quickly become popular and Jones’ company soon spreads worldwide. The precise origins of bitties remain a trade secret, but mage hunter becomes an even more profitable occupation.

Some mages are horrified that their beloved companions are sold as pets. For their own safety, they can’t save bitties, but many start doing small things to make bitties lives easier: creating safe places for runaways, leaving out food, etc.

Reader is from a small town. There’s no bitty center anywhere close, so it’s not really something that she gives a lot of thought, even if she is a mage. She doesn’t have a familiar herself, since she considered it a risk before bitties started being sold: it used to be a great way to get spotted by mage hunters. Now, she just can’t bring herself to get a familiar when they’re sold like pets.  
Reader lives alone in a small apartment. She uses magic in her everyday life, but does so as covertly as she can. The only other living beings in her apartment are indoor plants and the occasional spider.  
Until one day, the wards in her apartment ping. Something has broken in and seems to be heading for her… pantry? She’ll check that when she gets back home. She’s not rich, but if someone needs food that badly, calling the police on them wouldn’t be right.

Reader lets it go for the rest of the day until she gets home and checks the wards: it seems like a couple of bitties broke in and raided her pantry, then hid under furniture. Considering the weather, it would be really unsafe to send them out. Plus could she really do that? She doesn’t know what happens to runaways when they’re caught, but she’d rather not risk it.

So Reader just sets out to cook dinner and makes a little bit more so she can offer it to the two familiars hiding under her couch. When she’s done, she sets the table for three and calls out to them. The familiars understand she’s known they were here all along: one of them attacks her out of fear. Reader doesn’t counter-attack, she just defends herself and tries to talk them down. One of the plates meant for them is knocked off the table in the battle and the other runaway tries to get some of it while Reader is distracted.  
The familiar eventually calms down when they see the strange human 1) uses magic 2) doesn’t attack them despite being attacked. Reader notices the other one eating food off the floor and gets angry, not at the familiars but at whoever treated them like animals. She offers food from her own plate instead.  
The bitties don’t get why this human offers them food and doesn’t seem mad that they got into her house, but they’re not complaining. They’ll just… watch out for any sign that they need to leave.  
Hey, the weird human even wants to get them clean clothes and general bitty care stuff! No, there’s no way, something is off… But they do know that this human can use magic, and humans can’t use magic. They can always tell on her if she does something fishy.

Reader knows that familiar care is important, but she didn’t make copies of her family books on it since she didn’t make any familiar herself, so she needs to ask her cousin who lives in a nearby city. Her cousin, a bitty rights activist, gladly gives her copies and even adds a few things (“I can replace that, it won’t even take me too long. You’re new at this though, so just take it. You’ll learn later, when they’re taken care of.”). Reader comes back to the house. One of the familiars tried to do something small to help her (make a meal for example) but made a mess. They’re both hiding because they’re afraid of the fall out.  
Reader sees the mess, makes a comment along the lines of “come on, you could have cleaned up after yourself”, and cleans it up. Since the familiars are obviously hiding from her, she just leaves the clothes, bathtub, and assorted bitty care stuff on the ground near the couch, somewhere they can find them and inspect them without her being present.  
The bitties are confused, since the human still isn’t mad. Why is she so nice? They wasted food! They were an inconvenience! Surely that should have get them punished? Why did she leave nice things for them when they’re just trouble?

Reader is preparing her notes for her classes the next day when one of the familiars, the more trusting one, comes to apologize and thank her. Reader says she’s just doing what’s right and that as long as they keep quiet about what she is, she doesn’t mind keeping them around. She’s never had a familiar before, so she has a lot to learn… “What’s a familiar?”

It turns out that bitties are not taught anything about what they are supposed to be or do. They’re trained to be pets or assistants (they’re taught how to read and write so they can help their humans, or taught basic magic for the same reason), but no one told them what familiars are supposed to be: respected partners for mages, given life to keep them safe and be lifelong companions.  
There’s a culture gap here: bitties are taught that they’re artificial pets meant to serve humans, mages are taught that familiars are precious companions.  
Reader is horrified. The sheer disrespect! She hadn’t really looked into bitties, and few people had them in her town, but to treat them like pets! Familiars are people, you can’t treat them like animals, not even beloved ones.  
A few days pass. There are more and more hints that the two runaways in her home were mistreated, not just by any owner, but also by their makers. She can’t ignore that. Reader contacts her cousin again, this time about bitty rights activism. Her cousin tells her there’s things she can’t say on the phone.  
Reader asks the familiars if they want to come with her or would rather stay at home. “We can stay home.” Reader is glad that they agree that her place is their home, and makes sure to leave them more than enough food and water for the day (she’s not sure when she’s going to be back).

Reader’s cousin explains what is currently known about bitties, including the abducted mages who are forced to make them. Mages are currently not protected under the law, since few people are willing to even acknowledge their existence in public and there’s nothing specific to make sure mages aren’t exploited for their magic. Bitties have it even worse, since legally speaking, they are not even considered like living beings.  
Currently, mages who are able to can work to free the captured ones, and those who can’t can focus on rescuing bitties. Reader’s cousin is great with elemental magic (she has other talents but that’s where she really shines), but that’s a bit too flashy, so she mostly just focuses on activism and bitty rescue. She explains that she didn’t want to spook Reader so she mostly focused on the immediate problem when Reader first contacted her, but she’s glad that Reader asked on her own.

Reader is a lot better with stealth. She can shape-shift, she’s really good at gravity magic (to the point she can use it as a form of telekinesis) and illusions (mostly visual, but aural ones are also possible), and she has a few other minor tricks too. Overall, Reader could be a useful asset. She offers her help to the movement.  
Reader’s cousin is delighted: she didn’t know Reader had been using her magic all these years, since Reader is so secretive and tends to keep to herself. There are very few shape-shifters in the movement, since those tend to just hide and do whatever they can to avoid notice. And Reader is a true shape-shifter too (one who can shape-shift into anything she wants as opposed to a specific set of shapes), so that’s even better.  
Reader is given a magic scroll to safely contact the movement. This scroll is temporary (and has a magic ID that identifies her cousin as the one who gave the scroll to a potential recruit), it will only last for a week or so, but it’s long enough to contact them and ask anything she’d like to ask.

When Reader gets back, she tells the familiars what she learned. The trusting familiar wants to help too, but the other one vetoes it (they’re starting to trust Reader a bit, but not to the point of endangering the other familiar). Reader agrees with that assessment, since human-made problems should be solved by humans. Extra help would be nice, but it shouldn't be up to them to solve her species' mess.  
Reader contacts the pro-magic movement, explaining that she’d like to help free mages and “bitties” as well as her skill set. She’s told a member will come to her house on Friday evening with a specific call sign.

On Friday, no one comes to her house. The scroll is still available on Saturday, so Reader asks what happened. The member who was supposed to come to her has been MIA for a couple of days, and no one had noticed because it’s a fairly short amount of time. Someone else is sent the following day.

Reader is vetted and deemed trustworthy (by a spell), so she becomes a member of the pro-magic movement. Since she’s still new, she needs to be trained: as someone who has a job, she’s told she’ll be asked to set aside at least one day a week so she can learn what she needs to learn and eventually become part of a rescue team for captured mages (teamwork doesn’t just happen: the movement works by creating small cells and training them together, though they can change cells if necessary because the goal is to create teams that work well together).  
One of the familiars in her house accidentally makes their presence known (they were both eavesdropping). It surprises the stranger a bit, but they react to it with a joke and say that familiars are also welcome to join if they want to. More than a few of them, both traditional familiars and modern bitties, are already members. One of them is tempted, but the other is still unwilling. The stranger shrugs: not everyone wants to be part of the movement, that’s fair. As long as they don’t try to hinder the movement, the stranger is okay with that.

That becomes the new normal. Reader takes care of the runaway familiars, the familiars warm up to her (one very quickly asks if they can be her familiar ‘for real’, the other takes a lot longer to warm up but accepts that Reader really is just following her moral code), they cohabit and Reader trains to free other mages. She also picks up some new skills from her roommates: as purely magical creatures, they have insights into magic that she doesn’t have. There are things that she knows but they’re not really good at/trained in (like basic healing magic, since bitties are usually just given magic food when they get hurt), but the reverse is also true. The trusting familiar soon asks if they can go to school with her. Reader is fine with it but the other familiar isn’t. Eventually, the trusting familiar convinces the other to go with them so they can see it’s safe. Students find the two familiars really interesting. One student tries to hurt them when Reader (the teacher) has to leave the room for a moment, but other students hold them back. The violent student gets detention, the good students get praised (and maybe a small bonus on the next test?), while Reader explains that “bitties” are people and should be treated as such.  
“They’re somewhere between robots and aliens. Artificial and not quite human, but clearly people. And people should be treated as such.”

Life goes on. A hit on the closest Jones production center is being planned: Reader is considered ready to participate, she’ll be a part of the mission if she volunteers for it. Reader does volunteer, even if her trusting familiar is a bit hesitant (“It might be dangerous. Are you sure you’re ready?”). The other familiar approves of the mission but tells her to be careful.

The day of the mission, something goes wrong: Reader’s equipment malfunctions and she’s unable to contact her team once inside. She decides to carry on because as a shape-shifter, this wont be as dangerous for her as it would be for the others. One she gets to the captured mages, she sticks small teleporters on them  
[a small, disk-shaped object that can teleport someone to a specified location. It takes a lot of magic and it can only be used once. They come with a trigger, which is not on the disk so it isn’t accidentally activated]  
and realizes there’s not enough for everyone: they underestimated the number of mages in this bitty plant. Reader hates this, but a teleporter can only transport one person safely. She was supposed to have one, but she reasons that she can get out without it. She activates the teleporters shortly before security arrives, then she hides.  
Reader’s team is panicking, since Reader hasn’t been in touch for a while. They get notified when the teleporters get used and congratulated on a mission well done, but Reader still isn’t anywhere. A bitty volunteers to go look for her.  
Security is rather confused by the suddenly 75% empty plant, and no one has noticed the small flying animal yet. Reader likes her odds of escaping… until a mage catches her.  
“Careful, kid. I know birds are quicker and more comfortable than insects, but go back to being an insect or you’ll get caught. Security isn’t that smart, but they’re not that dumb either.”  
Reader figuratively takes notes and escapes as a small flying insect. Her team is glad to see she’s safe and books it.  
[Note: I’m definitely implying that there are mages who infiltrated the plants for unknown motives]

The next day, the news all mention a group of thieves breaking into a Bitty Co. plant and stealing valuable machines. Jones makes a conference and basically threatens to get the book thrown at the “thieves”. The public is still unaware that bitty are actually human-made and no footage has been released. Jones is in the somewhat awkward position of having to declare a theft when what was actually “stolen” was people.  
[Note: this wasn’t supposed to be a parallel for slavery, but technically some of it could be? With some proper research, it could be somewhat realistic, especially if I look up what the Underground Railroad did since it would make sense to have them as models for the mage group. But gotta make it clear what was inspired by reality and what is purely fictional.]  
Mages can’t exactly bring attention to that, because it would mean revealing their existence. But some mages get angry at Jones and start to vandalize anything bitty-related (mostly plants and bitty adoption centers, but also bitties in some cases, though this is rare).  
Reader is concerned for her familiars’ safety and no longer brings them to school. She also makes sure to reinforce her wards. The trusting familiar is disappointed but understanding. The other one is starting to feel cooped up.

A bill granting legal personhood to bitties is in the works, sparking national debate. Reader’s cousin is really excited about it. So are Reader’s familiars. The mistrustful one offers their help with this, since after all the pro-magic movement did prove that they were sincere. Reader is delighted, since it means that both familiars will now join the movement with her and she might even get to work with them. She’s still concerned for their safety, but she knows the mistrustful one will not allow the trusting one to get in too much trouble.

Then Reader gets a letter implying that someone in her building knows she’s a mage. The letter basically says that unless she sends nudes, she’s going to get ratted out. Reader thinks it’s just a prank by some horny idiot and throws the letter out.  
Another letter comes. This time, the letter says that they know Reader participated in the hit against the local bitty plant. They reiterate their demands.  
This time, the familiars notice that Reader is shaken. They take the letter from her and start to devise a plan to find out who’s blackmailing their human.  
Turns out someone in the building is the non-mage sibling of one of Reader’s teammates. The teammate is a cool person, if a bit too trusting, but their sibling is an asshole. They pieced together that Reader participated in the hit because their sibling drove her back home (and a few other context clues). The familiars go threaten the asshole into silence while Reader is at work. An understanding is reached: the blackmail will stop, and in return the familiars won’t make the blackmailer’s life hell. Reader comes home to a written apology and two quietly smug familiars.

The bitty personhood bill has some opposition, but surprisingly many bitty owners seem to support it: it’s pretty hard to deny that bitties are people when you live with them. Various activist groups also tend to agree that artificial people deserve rights too (activists can fight for several causes). Bitty Co lobbies against it, but there’s growing public support for bitty rights. If anything, no one wants to be on the wrong side of history, and bitties being people but still being treated like less than people remind many of practices that really shouldn’t be allowed to continue.  
Culturally speaking, humans are ready to acknowledge non-human people as people, even said non-human people are artificial.  
The bill is voted on: it gets enough of a majority to pass. Activists rejoice.

Then monsters are freed from the Underground a few days later, and humanity is floored. Holy shit, ~~tall bitties~~ monsters exist! And they were freed by a human who can use magic!

There’s a bit of confusion at the beginning, but since the legal framework for non-human rights is already there, they quickly get legal rights.  
The existence of mages becoming widely known makes some religious nutjobs call for witch hunts, but it also reveals the true nature of bitties. The public is absolutely horrified. Many call for Jones to be prosecuted for his crimes. Bitty Co is forced to close due to public outrage. Laws are created to protect all magic users (mages, monsters, familiars).

Epilogue

Reader and her familiars watch a show together during a school break (the familiars are sitting on Reader’s shoulders). Reader gets a text from a student asking about magic. The student thinks their newborn sibling might be a mage, what are the signs?

Additional note:  
Some bitty fics are about human bitties, sometimes people who were originally normal humans. Considering that here, bitties are made, you can't transform into a bitty.  
But that doesn't mean familiars can't be made from human material, or even something else. Making a familiar requires organic material that can channel magic. For example, the hair of a mage could do, or magic plants could too. All sorts of bitties/familiars could be made, it's just that traditionally, mages make them from monster dust. 

As to how mages found out how to make familiars, it could be the result of experiments. Monsters being imprisoned for thousands of years leaves a lot of time for humans to come up with strange things. Or it could be [luck](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Penicillin#/Discovery).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader is implied to be a justice soul. She could be a kindness one too, or even other traits: bravery and patience could work very well too, but I like the idea of a justice soul for this one.


	12. Avatar AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on an Avatar binge. I had to do an Avatar AU, but none of the elements fit monsters. So instead of making it an awkward fit, I simply used a fifth element. Funny how classical aether seems to share some characteristics with UT magic. I guess that in some ways, it's more of an elemental AU than a proper Avatar one.
> 
> Most of the AU chapters center around Reader, but this one felt like a Frisk chapter. And Earth seemed like a fitting element for a determination-driven character.
> 
> Gen chapter again because 1) I'm not great at romance 2) I don't ship Frisk with anyone (except happiness)

**Aether:**  
* Essentially magic. It it light-weight, tends to move in circles, and can crystallize (though it is never quite as solid as any other element). It is traditionally described as “pure and heavenly”, “subtler than light” and “non-material”, and “through consumption one may rid oneself of any impurities or illnesses”.  
* Aether is often compared to light, and sometimes the difference between the two is a bit blurry.  
* Being light-like and not quite physical, it can occasionally look like other elements, especially fire.  
* The flow of aether can affect gravity.  
* Everyone is a combination of the elements. Aether too: the soul is made of aether, but since there are no more aetherbenders outside of the Underground, souls have been forgotten too.  
* Monsters had the largest proportion of aetherbenders even before the war.

**The story**

Earth, water, air, fire, aether. Such was the original wheel of the elements back when humans, spirits, and monsters shared the world.

But one day, eons before the start of the Avatar cycle, a spirit whose name has since been lost struck down a monster, killing them instantly. The motive for this murder was lost to (pre)history, and a great war between spirits and monsters ensued. Humans, who were originally not involved, fought for both sides.

Monsters lost the Great War. With most of their numbers wiped out, they were facing extinction at the hands of vengeful spirits and violent humans. But another group of humans offered another solution: instead of upsetting the balance by exterminating monsters, they could simply imprison them forever. The compromise was judged acceptable. Humans would take care of imprisoning the monsters (the best solution involving permanently sealing non-aetherbenders’ bending), while spirits would make sure to erase all traces of their existence so no one would break the barrier. The aether element, originally granted by monsters and by far the most common element among them, has to be erased too.

Wars come and go. Spirits themselves are later sealed by humans, with precious few allowed to remain into the world, such as the Moon and Ocean spirits or the Painted Lady. Humans now mostly live alone in the physical world, with very few interventions from the rare remaining spirits except when humans piss them off. The wheel of the elements still turns, though with every passing year it gets a little slower.

By the time the successor of Avatar Korra is born, the wheel is slow enough than slightly under half of the population is made of benders, and even spirits are affected. But due to the complete erasure of anything to do with monsters or the fifth element, no one knows what is wrong.

In the Underground, monsters are losing hope. While they have had thousands of years to bring their population back to healthy levels, they also had thousands of years to understand that they might never escape their prison. The barrier is such that it may only be broken by the combination of 7 human souls and 5 elements, but monsters can only bend aether, and they only have 6 souls anyway. While some of the older boss monsters know some energybending, they can’t grant themselves new elements (it requires having a connection to the element they want to grant in the first place). Plus none of the lion turtles were imprisoned with them. Even worse, the lion turtles seem to be extinct: nothing in any human media has mentioned them in at least hundreds of years, except to say that they were extinct. And there’s another issue: with the monsters losing hope of ever breaking the barrier, they will eventually die out, and balance will be lost forever.

Enters Avatar Frisk, a young earthbender who was abandoned as a child. Due to the new Avatar cycle, they do not have access to the past Avatars or their memories (with the exception of Korra), not even they go to the Spirit World. The cycle was reset, and Frisk feels lost: they can feel that if nothing is done, bending will eventually disappear. But what is the problem? Not even Raava knows: both she and Vaatu tend to lose memories when they die, and Raava has died a few times since the monsters’ imprisonment.

While the avatar in training has barely started to use the fourth and final element, they and their animal guide, a badgermole named Boulder, are abducted by an extremist group that believes that the Avatar is the cause of their problems. But since it’s a well-known fact that killing the Avatar only gets them reincarnated, they go for a different solution: they knock Frisk out and keep them in an artificial coma while they try to figure out how to end the cycle for good. Surely if Avatar Korra reset the cycle, there’s a way to break it completely?

Frisk is taken to Mount Ebott, a remote and empty location. Few settlements on the mountain last past a measly ten years: the mountain is said to be haunted by strange, alien spirits (aether can have some strange effects when left unattended for too long).

Unfortunately for the extremists, the anesthetist fucks up and Frisk is able to partially wake up. Afraid for their life, they go into the Avatar state and destroy most of the base… but they are knocked out and fall into the mountain.  
Right into the portal to the Underground, a different world cut off from the physical and spirit worlds by the Barrier.

Boulder tries to get them out by grabbing Frisk and digging their way out, but it’s too late: the barrier prevents them from leaving. After trying every path it could think of, Boulder decides to go down and see if there’s not a way out from the bottom of the mountain.

Unfortunately for them, they meet Flowey, a strange and aggressive flower. Flowey hurts Frisk, and almost gets killed by Boulder for it. Toriel interrupts the fight and the flower runs away. She heals Frisk’s wounds and leads them through the first few puzzles, until the long room.  
Not much change from canon UT (when it comes to events), except that monsters bend. Frisk is surprised: they don’t recognize these forms, or the element monsters are bending. Toriel promises she will explain when they get home, and asks Frisk and Boulder to stay put.

Of course, Frisk doesn’t stay put. They explore with Boulder. Monsters are such a strange people. They can recognize what they’re doing as bending, but not any kind of bending they know. What is this strange aether they’re bending? Frisk has never seen anything like this. They wish they could ask the other Avatars, but Raava says she doesn’t remember anything like this. And monsters all look so different from what they know. They’re not quite spirits, and not quite humans either. But they tend to be kind, and Frisk can easily befriend some of them. Napstablook in particular is a shy ghost and reminds them of a dear spirit friend, if a little easier to spook.

They eventually reach Toriel’s house. The house is strange. Close to canon, but with hints that Toriel is really, really old. Frisk asks questions about monsters: why have they never heard of the third people? What is this strange element? What is this place?  
Toriel tries to say that this is not a story a child should hear. Frisk says they are the Avatar and need to know. Unsurprisingly, Toriel is unfamiliar with the concept. While fragments of human cultures trickle down underground, they tend to be partial. Books are usually too damaged to be readable, and very few books discuss the Avatar in details to begin with. It’s just assumed to be common knowledge. The feats of various Avatars are discussed, but rarely the Avatars themselves.  
This alone clues in Frisk as to how long it has been since monsters’ separation from the other people. Frisk tries to explain what the Avatar does, but Toriel still treats them like a child (to Toriel, most people are extremely young, and a human who has yet to reach the age of majority is a young child).  
Frisk stays at Toriel’s for a few days. After all, they need to learn all they can about monsters, and this lady seems as knowledgeable as she is old. But then Frisk learns about the Barrier and its requirements.

Frisk doesn’t want to die, but sees it as their duty to break the barrier. Who better than the Avatar could do it? They can bend four of the five elements. If they can convince the king to help them, the barrier can be broken. They know they can do it. So Frisk leaves quietly at night (or maybe day? It’s difficult to tell underground), while Toriel is sleeping.  
There’s no fight to leave the Ruins. There’s only the guilt of leaving a kind old woman behind. Flowey shows up to taunt Frisk, but Boulder attacks him on sight. The flower leaves after that, on Frisk is free to go.

The gate of the Ruins opens to a much colder place. Frisk decides to ride Boulder for warmth. The badgermole isn’t a fan of that climate either, so they follow the path hoping to get to a warmer place.  
The skeleton brothers’ shenanigans delay them a bit. Sans plays a prank on Frisk like in canon, to much less effect considering it just makes Boulder growl at him. Can’t fool someone who feels vibrations and knows where exactly you are. It’s also a lot harder to hide a badgermole, even a young one, so when Frisk hides, they do so behind Boulder, and Papyrus welcomes the strange new monster to Snowdin. Since the new person will not talk, merely grunt, Papyrus leaves after wishing them a good day.

From that point on, the way to Snowdin kinda plays like canon True Pacifist until the last ice puzzle. Frisk is friendly and meets monsters. They’re not exactly hiding what they are, since they do want to break the barrier and believe that honesty will help show they are sincere. On the last ice puzzle before Snowdin, they slip and meet a monster child who hurt themselves falling. The child is crying and lost some HP. Frisk comforts the child. Since they are good at healing, they then use waterbending to heal the monster, to the astonishment of the child who has never seen such strange magic.

It turns out that many monsters more or less forgot the elements. Since there are only aetherbenders left in the Underground and aether is very versatile, it ended up being called magic in common language. The original name and the theory behind the elements is still taught, but only to scholars. Most monsters simply know that to break the barrier, the king needs seven souls and four types of magic that no longer exist. The child is very excited to see this strange magic and urges Frisk to go to the king. Frisk agrees, but offers to walk them home first. The child accepts enthusiastically. They both ride Boulder, who is stoic about the excited kid on their back.

Papyrus is a bit taken aback by the presence of a monster child when he blocks the bridge to Snowdin. He asks the child to step back, but the child talks his metaphorical ear off instead. Papyrus still brings up his Gauntlet of Deadly Terror, but can’t bring himself to use it because it feels unfair. And as someone who prides himself on protecting Snowdin, he couldn’t risk hurting a child from his community. He leaves again. The kid proceeds to talk Sans’ metaphorical ear off about their cool new friend with weird magic. Sans is very amused, but he has to ‘go back to work’, so he says a few friendly words to both kids and leaves the wrong way (because impractical jokes).

It takes about five minutes for the entire town of Snowdin to learn that there’s a cool stranger who heals with weird magic and might not actually be a monster. Considering the human is clearly friendly, they don’t get attacked by the inhabitants. Frisk gets the kid home, then finds the closest public place: Grillby’s. There are people (dogs) in armor there, so they ask for help with their plan. The guards aren’t quite sure what the protocol is when a fallen human asks to be taken to the king so they can help break the barrier. But considering the human isn’t hostile, surely it’s fine? Two of the dogs decide to escort Frisk through the Underground.

Papyrus wants to fight Frisk when they walk out of Snowdin, but then he notices the guards. He asks if he can help instead. Since the rule seems to be “the more the merrier”, he gets to escort them too.  
Sans says hello from his sentry station and asks if they told the captain yet. When the dogs say they haven’t, he suggests to keep it a surprise, since it’s her day off: she probably would like to relax a bit, they clearly have the human under control, there’s no need to have her go fetch her armor and run the whole way from her house just so she could bring the human to the king herself. The dogs seem to think it makes sense, so they thank Sans for the suggestion and just keep escorting the human without notifying their boss.  
For a while, Undyne doesn’t know there’s a human in Waterfall. She’s busy playing piano and relaxing. But since the Avatar likes to help people (and with Papyrus’ involvement, things occasionally get a bit wacky), the news of their presence soon spreads, and someone posts about Frisk on the undernet, which eventually ends up on Undyne’s feed.

Undyne is very much Not Amused. She grabs her armor and goes after the human who obviously used their weird human powers on her guards and her best friend. They meet near the bridge where MK trips and needs to be rescued in canon.  
The guards are rather surprised by their boss’ reaction. The human they’re escorting isn’t hostile, why is she so much more violent than usual? What pissed her off so much? Undyne hurls some accusations and Frisk tries to defend themself, but Undyne isn’t willing to hear them out.  
Frisk wants to confront Undyne head on, but then they notice MK getting too close to the cliff. They’re going to fall if they’re not careful. Undyne lands a shot on them due to their distraction, and MK is so shocked they trip and fall. Frisk barely manages to earthbend in time to catch the kid. Undyne stops attacking to watch what they’re doing. Once MK is safely back to solid ground, she grabs them and brings them to a safer place, ignoring the human’s presence. The guards are not quite sure what to do, but decide to carry on with the original plan.

This only lasts until the next encounter with Undyne. The dogs are torn between obeying their boss and helping the human. They don’t know what to do. Can they really attack someone who’s been nothing but nice to everyone? Is Frisk really a threat to everyone’s hopes and dreams when they want to help break the barrier? Papyrus is not much better off. Why is his friend “doing a violence”? Why is Undyne trying to kill someone? She can do better than that. There’s no need to kill the human, they’re just trying to help.

Frisk is good enough at dodging that they don’t get hurt. Some close calls graze them, but there’s no serious wounds to worry about. They eventually figure out they can run away and do so with Boulder. Undyne runs after them and throws spears at them, unable to catch up but close enough to be dangerous. When they reach Hotland, her armor quickly overheats and she faints. Frisk takes a look when the spears stop coming and discovers a pile of overheated fish lying on the ground. The air is drier than they’d like, but they waterbend enough to cool down Undyne’s armor and give her a drink.

Undyne doesn’t say a word, but she leaves the human alone when she wakes up and quickly walks away. Frisk takes this as her way to say thank you. Papyrus and the guards catch up as she leaves and interpret her retreat as the captain’s permission to keep going. Papyrus congratulates the Avatar on clearing up whatever misunderstanding was making Undyne attack them.

As the most direct way to the Core is blocked by lasers (but no guards), the next stop is Alphys’ lab. Boulder can’t actually fit through the door, so they dig under the lab. And dig. And dig. And dig. Boulder eventually just digs into the lab and finds the True Lab. But since they neither care nor realize that the Amalgamates are not just slightly weirder monsters, Boulder just cross the True Lab and digs their way out and back up.  
[Note: this could be a great horror comedy moment, with a completely stoic and blind badgermole failing to get scared by amalgamate shenanigans]

Alphys has been watching the human. The canon plan of being their guide through the Underground can’t quite work when they already have a full escort, including a giant magical non-monster with strange powers. Alphys would really like to help though. To be part of the human’s story. But Papyrus is smart and would notice if she did that. Maybe she could… provide some sort of vehicle? One big enough to accommodate the entire group. She could also give them lasers. And jetpacks. And a cute Mew Mew Kissy Cutie keychain for their phone! Who doesn’t love lasers or anime merch?

Alphys has a working giant hoverboard prototype ready by the time the human gets to her type. It’s a little bit unwieldy, so she’d better be the one driving. Mettaton is rather relieved that his friend didn’t go through her plan, though he quickly starts to wonder if the original plan wasn’t a better option when the upgraded Avatar group barrels through Hotland on a slightly unsafe vehicle. He still films it and plays news anchor because it’s the most interesting thing that’s happened in the Underground in many years.

The hoverboard unfortunately meets its end when a spooked monster accidentally breaks it with their bullets. Thankfully, this happens in a fairly empty area of the capital and does minimal damage (no casualties, some mild property damage). Frisk does their best to calm down the distraught monster. They calm down when Frisk gives them a metal sculpture they made using some of the remains of the hoverboard. The monster is impressed by the display of unknown bending/magic, and upon learning that Frisk is a human who wants to break the barrier, they decide to join the growing escort of the Avatar.

Frisk and co walk through Toriel’s old home. Frisk still feels guilty about leaving behind Toriel’s back, and tries to call her before getting to Asgore. The old woman doesn’t answer, but Frisk leaves her a message stating they will get to Asgore soon and free monsters.

The entire group is very surprised to find Sans in the Judgement Hall. Papyrus in particular is very surprised to find his brother here. Is this one of his many jobs? Sans dodges the question and judges the human. Since Frisk has no EXP, they get praised. He then explains to Frisk that their actions will determine the fate of the entire Underground: either their soul will be taken and monsters will eventually break free (or die trying), or they will have to kill Asgore and force a monster to help them escape. Escape is unlikely… but they haven’t gotten so far by giving up, have they? He believes in Frisk. Papyrus is a little rattled by what Frisk has to do, but agrees with this assessment: he believes in Frisk. They’ll find a way to help everyone, somehow.Alphys makes an excuse to leave, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

When the king sees a whole group of monsters backing a human, he almost refuses to believe his eyes. He asks his subjects to stay out of this, and most of them obey. Papyrus pleads with the king, as does Frisk, but Asgore doesn’t listen to reason and insists on fighting the Avatar.

Frisk accepts the challenge and asks everyone to stay out of this so no one gets hurts for them. But they don’t account for Boulde, who follows them and fights him despite Frisk’s best efforts. The two of them fight until Asgore is nearly out of HP. Frisk ends the fight by sparing the king before her friend can deal the killing blow. But Flowey shows up and kills Asgore anyway, then absorbs all of the human souls and kills the monsters attracted by Frisk’s cry for help.

The flower makes fun of Frisk for never figuring out the godly powers given by determination in the Underground and demonstrates by killing them over and over. Frisk eventually learns how saving and reloading works and starts dodging the attacks. They fight back against Flowey. As a flower, it should have been possible to use bending on him, but he’s now mostly made of aether and has very little physical matter for Frisk to bend. The fight is at a stalemate until Napastablook shows up to help. They felt the call from Waterfall and came as fast as they could (forgetting that as a non-physical entity, they could have teleported). They enter Frisk’s body and share their aetherbending with them, enabling them to bind Flowey long enough to separate the souls from him. Now powerless, the flower escapes after Frisk spares them. But the dead monsters are still dead. Blooky!Frisk hesitates, and decides to reload one last time. They are brought back to right before Boulder fought Asgore. But instead of just being Frisk, they are still a monster-avatar fusion.

Asgore senses the monster soul in Frisk’s body and is confused: it’s not a boss’ soul, how is this possible? What happened? Blooky!Frisk explains what happened. Asgore is not quite sure he believes them. But then Undyne bursts through the door and holds up a worrying message from Alphys. She thinks the Royal Scientist might be in danger and wants Frisk’s help, since Frisk has proven they can save monsters from themselves when needed.

Since his very own captain clearly thinks the human is trustworthy enough to ask for help, Asgore stands down and allows them to use the elevator to get to Alphys as quickly as possible. Deciding that the human is too slow, Undyne carries them on her back as she runs to the River person’s stop. The River Person comments on Blooky unconventional tastes for a vessel during the trip. Undyne thinks it’s nowhere near as important as Alphys’ life.

Undyne and Frisk go through the True Lab (with a few elemental shortcuts) and eventually find Alphys. She is about to make herself into an amalgamate as punishment for her mistakes. Undyne tackles her and Frisk talks her down. Alphys is relieved that Undyne doesn’t think any less of her despite her mistakes, and surprised that the human doesn’t mind her “desecrating” human souls to revive monsters on the verge of falling down. She promises to tell the truth to her employer and to the families. After all, she could stand to be more honest with everyone… starting with Undyne.

The two confess and Frisk decides to leave them alone. They go back to the king to break the barrier, only to discover that the Underground is suddenly empty. It turns out that Asgore was preparing the barrier so the human could help him break it, and in the process he checked the soul containers. Flowey took that opportunity to steal the human souls as well as the king’s soul, then took essentially the entire Underground. The only monster left is Blooky, still sharing Frisk’s body after the reload. Frisk needs to fight a much more powerful Flowey, who introduces himself as Asriel Dreemurr. Asriel seems to hold insane beliefs about the Underground and wants to reset the world so Frisk (or Chara, as he calls them) will stay with him forever.

Frisk fights Asriel. In this universe, there are many more lost souls. Frisk saves them all, including Asriel himself. He eventually reverts to his original form and destroys the barrier with Frisk’s help, then restores monsters. Asriel says he will not survive for long without a soul, now that he’s lost his determination. Frisk does not accept this outcome. While Flowey/Asriel committed crimes when he didn’t have a soul, he shouldn’t have to die again. Blooky’s knowledge suggests that souls are made of aether, surely they can make one for him? They can, but the effort knocks them out.

Frisk wakes up in the physical world, heralded as the hero who freed an entire people from their infinite prison. Some humans are rather annoyed at having to deal with another entire species settling into their world again, while other humans are astonished to see a new element. Frisk and Blooky are still sharing their body. Remembering Raava, Frisk asks if they want to make the arrangement permanent. After all, it would only be fair to have the Avatar represent all three people that they are supposed to guide. Blooky is interested, as this body is the most suitable vessel they’ve found. Raava agrees as well.

Epilogue

The newly formed monster nation celebrates the first Liberation festival on an artificial floating island, with many human and spirit guests.

A few important notes:

**The Underground**

In this one, the Underground is actually a separate world, kinda like the spirit world is different from the physical one. Spirits come from the spirit world, monsters from the Underground.  
Few people ever try to project to the Underground. It’s an endless cave. There’s no surface, no sky, nothing like other worlds. You can only go down and further down. It’s infinite in space, but limited in what it can offer.

**Hybrids**

Whether there can be half-monsters (half-spirits or half-humans) is left to the author. Would be fun to have human-like character bend aether, and monster-like characters bend other elements.

**Lion turtles**

Though Aang meets the presumed last one, there’s no proof one way or another: might be the last one, might not be the last one.

**Raava doesn't remember monsters or the aether element**

Raava doesn’t know she loses some memories when she dies. When you’re as old as she is, it’s probably not as noticeable.

**The Great War**

The event that led to it was caused by love (not just LOVE, though it certainly helped for the actual war). Make of that what you will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does it technically contradict Avatar canon? Probably (especially the aether). I'm not a hardcore fan, so I don't know all the lore. There's probably nothing that explicitly says there's no forgotten, imprisoned people bending a fifth element though.
> 
> Mixing the two canons was hard and I might have made things up as I went along. I like the idea of Blooky finding a human vessel and sharing a body with a friend, so I went with that. Might have been an excuse to have the avatar bend all five elements too. I actually had this idea of Blooky sharing a human's body for another fic and scrapped it because reasons. But it refused.
> 
> (I had to get this out of my brain somehow, I'll rationalize it as much as I want)

**Author's Note:**

> While this is my notebook, it doesn't mean it can't be borrowed. Do you like something here? Do you want to use it as is or did it inspire you? Feel free to use anything here. Just give me a link so I can read your work.  
> Since this is a notebook, some things can be added in (or erased, I guess) at any time. Chapters aren't necessarily static.  
> Feedback is welcome. Like it? Hate it? Found one of the many typos or plot holes? Weird phrasing? Something I should have warned/tagged for but didn't? Let me know in the comments.


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